Chapter Fifteen
Axton
W e took around 0100 hours off for Creed’s Lake. Val was my copilot as we merged quite easily onto the dark interstate with only a few other cars. It was going to be a very long two days, since Val and I would be the only drivers for the next twenty five or more hours. Koty came up front and let us know that Belle was peacefully sleeping then sat on a sofa to watch television.
“This is nice. It’s not too big or too small. We should get a few for Creed's Lake.” Val suggested.
“We have busses.” I reminded her.
“Yeah, but nothing like this and they would be great for the DV cases.”
I sighed. “We already spend too much on the DV cases. If you want a few of these motorhomes, then raise the money.”
“It’s not like most of our DV victims can fly. They can’t leave a trace like that, and they would be very nice for long trips. Especially for the kids, and the operatives could take turns sleeping in the back. Hell, maybe we can save on hotel stays.”
I rolled my eyes. “Again, if you want some of these, find donations or write a grant. We cannot keep funneling money into that program, or into Morgan’s demands. You need to talk to her about her insecurities by the way. I get she wants Creed’s Lake to work like her own personal city, but it was never meant to be that way. It was just supposed to be a safe community for our operatives, their families, the people we rescued on foreign missions, and our undercover operatives. Yes, we wanted the community center to help build a community type feel, and of course we wanted the medical center, but it’s getting out of hand. The kids need to be socialized outside Creed’s Lake. The next thing she will want is a Catholic Church and a retirement home.”
“You’re right, and we have talked, but she is traumatized by the things the paparazzi did to her family and friends. She doesn’t want that for her children, but a lot of kids survive just fine with famous parents. We are working on it, and if you remember correctly, it’s the reason she stayed out of relationships and didn’t make friends. She is very protective of the ones she loves. It’s also the fans, the dangerous ones that used to try to break into her house. She just wants to keep her kids safe. And as far as getting some of these little motorhomes, I’ll find the funds or ask Creed.”
I groaned. “Right, go over my head and to the man that’s spending money like it grows on trees. It’s December, the slowest month of the year. You would think he would control the spending at least a little, but Morgan has turned Creed’s Lake into the North Pole. Before the kids Christmas party, I stepped outside my house and heard Mariah Carey on the loud speakers. The speakers meant for emergencies! I wanted to cut my ears out, so I didn’t have to hear that shit. Imagine one of the General’s visiting. We would be the laughingstock of the pentagon.”
She scoffed. “Wow, Grinch much? There you go reminding me exactly why your framed photo hangs on the wall at the command center for being the biggest asshole on Creed’s Lake. Are you going to try and have the airspace closed down on Christmas Eve above Creed’s Lake to reindeer traffic as well?”
“I’m serious, Bolton. You might have a medical degree to fall back on if Creed’s Lake fails. Most of us only have high school educations and very little family. What do you suggest I do if we lose everything?”
She laughed a little. “You have made your first few millions, just like the rest of us. Go retire, maybe find a wife and raise a few kids. You could even go to college. It’s been seven years now, and we are at a point where we can start to relax a little. The guys are having families, the children on the lake are thriving, and security is better than ever. We take a break in December and part of January because we can afford it. Our missions are dangerous, and the reason we take a break is to keep our operatives safe and home for their families. The goal is for not one child to grow up and think back at Christmas and remember losing a parent. We are at a point now where we have a waiting list and can’t fulfill all the requests we receive. If we fail, it won’t be because of the money thrown into our non-prophets. It’ll be because of our lack of operatives to meet the demand.”
We made it almost to the New Mexico border when I noticed two motorcycles hanging far back. I watched then switched lanes after I passed a car, and the motorcycles also switched lanes. I sped up to pass a car and the motorcycles sped up. “I think we have company.”
Valerie hit the touch screen and looked from the camera on the back of the motorhome. “I see them.”
“Call the command center and find out if we have any available allies in the area. If not, we will try to lead them as far as we can until we are close to one.”
She made the call and learned our closest allies were three hours away.
“Have them call the club president and tell them to mobilize and head west on I-40. We may need them for cleanup.” I instructed.
Val turned in her seat. “Koty, we have company. I need you to go wake Belle up and bring her up here so she can be belted in, then when we stop, the two of you are to go to the bedroom and lock the door. Make sure all the shades are still pulled, and I’ll give you a gun to protect her if we are distracted.”
“They found us?” Koty was alarmed.
“Possibly, now please do as I ask.” She said.
She then turned and opened the console where she stowed the weapons given to us by Crock. “How are there two rogue members? The Raid was supposed to be successful this morning. Satan’s Disciples told our men everything and they’re still being handled by our men.” She checked the magazines then looked at me. “What if Jeremiah wasn’t just working with them, but another MC as well?”
I glanced at her then back to the road. “The fucking cartel.”
The MC that was mobilizing wasn’t like us. They were a true MC that owed Creed and the Fallen Angels a few favors. They were the Knights of Darkness, a very large and dangerous gang, but the President’s son was one of the soldiers we rescued on the first mission we had to save Creed a few years back when our military abandoned them. Then when they were at war with an equally dangerous gang, the Fallen Angels hid their women and children. They were loyal to us and forever in our debt.
“She’s out cold.”
I glanced into my visor mirror and saw Koty struggling to carry his sister. Dammit, she was peaceful, and we had to disturb her. He buckled her in then wiped his brow, like she weighed a ton, but the girl was far from heavy. I knew because I carried her myself. Val unbuckled then walked back to give Koty a gun.
“You need to work on waking her up. We are eventually going to stop, and you may end up being the only thing between her and one of those men on their motorcycles. Do you know how to use a gun?” She asked.
“Of course I do, mine was lost in my crash. I couldn’t find it when I woke up.” He answered.
“Good. Now do whatever it takes to wake her up. She needs to be able to walk if something happens. I want her buckled in, but there’s no way to do that in the bedroom.” Val instructed.
“Val, there’s no cars left on the highway. Walk back and see if you have a good shot if they try anything. I’d rather get them on their bikes than risk putting Belle into anymore danger than necessary.” I said.
“We need to lead them somewhere. A vacant parking lot or a fucking field somewhere. That’ll buy us time for the MC to do a cleanup before the authorities are called.” She argued.
“That’s the goal, but they could try something before we can get there, so do as I say while I talk with the command center so they can direct us to the right place.” I called them through the screen of the motorhome to get directions. How did they follow us? It couldn’t have been a tracking device. I watched Crock do a check, and he found nothing. We even checked Belle’s cross necklace. They didn’t have any other belongings, and we took every measure to make sure we weren’t followed when we left.
Of course, Magnus was in Club X when we called the first time and he caught wind that we had a little trouble, so it was him that answered my call in the command center.
“Didn’t you eliminate any tracking devices?” Magnus asked.
“I did everything right, Magnus, so just pull up a fucking map and direct me to the best spot to take care of these guys.”
He chuckled. “You’re not scared of two pieces of shit, are you?”
“I’m here to protect someone and I do not take that lightly. If they are in communication with other people as we speak, we are fucked.” I snapped at him.
“Fine, don’t take the next exit, take the one after then take a right. You’ll pass a gas station, then take a left. It'll be a rural road and if they’re going to try anything it’ll happen the further you make it away from the highway.” He said.
“What’s the ETA of Dragon’s group?” I asked.
“He had several men out on a run, and they are twenty-nine minutes from you, but they are heading in the opposite direction so they will get to you sooner than their location’s estimate. He has mobilized with a few more men, and they are still two hours and forty minutes out. They have agreed to escort you through New Mexico, and the code word is Santa’s nut sack. What the fuck? I did not come up with that, it was them, dammit. I’ll try to find the members closest to you via satellite.”
If our own operatives weren’t taking care of Satan’s Disciples, we could have called them for some support. We had another group watching Belle's gated community where she lived her entire life, but they were too far away. I switched the screen to see through the back camera and the two motorcycles were getting closer, but not yet to us, they were still hanging back, so I flipped the screen back to the GPS. We could handle two gang members with ease, but not if they called backup or shared the description of our motorhome with the others.
“We’re going to need them because if they dare try to harm either of these two, I’ll rip their fucking heads off.” I needed to let out some frustration and if I didn’t think it would freak Belle out, I might have had some fun with the pieces of shit. “Any clue who these pieces of shit belong to?”
“I have Lonnaman on the line with Murray checking to see if Satan’s Disciples know anything. He’s still working out some confessions if you know what I mean. I’m suspecting it’s one of the Cartel’s affiliates if that false prophet was in business with them.” Magnus said.
“I’m about to turn on the exit.” I said as I switched to the camera.
“They’re following us off the exit.” Val yelled.
“Take a right.” Magnus reminded me.
“There’s a stop light, but no cars are coming so I’m not stopping.” I didn’t want to give them a chance to drive beside us. It was best to take care of business somewhere more private.
“Your backup is fifteen minutes out.” Magnus updated. “Drive till you come to a four way stop and go left. It’ll be about a mile.”
I kept my eyes on the road and drove for a mile without the men trying anything, but they still hung back too far for us to do anything. I didn’t stop at the stop sign and turned left on a county road. “Koty, when I stop this motorhome, count to twenty and get her to that bedroom and lock the door. Stay as low as you can, but also stay vigilant. Protect her, Koty, I mean it.”
“In one mile you’ll see an old abandoned schoolhouse. It has a large gravel parking lot and there are no security cameras for about two miles east, one mile west, and twenty miles north. You will head that way when you leave.” Magnus instructed.
I looked back in my visor mirror at Koty. “Hold on to her tightly. It’s time for a little demolition derby.” I smiled at the excitement.
“You did say gravel, correct?” I asked Magnus.
He chuckled. “Have fun doing donuts.”
“Hold on to something Val, it’s about to get fun.” I warned her.
That was when I heard Belle cry, and my heart sped up. “It’s going to be okay, Belle. This is just another day on the job for us. We fight wars with more dangerous men.” Dammit, I didn’t want her to be scared. I didn’t even realize she was awake.
I took a glance behind me and the fuckers were as dumb as hell riding up on us that way. I took a sharp turn and when our wheels met gravel we spun. The motorcycles almost hit us, but I turned the other direction, and they quickly slid, and their bikes fell from under them. I laughed when they tried jumping away from their bikes then struggled from under them. “You picked the wrong operative to fuck with today, mother fuckers!” The tail end of the motorhome spun, and I gunned it toward the men, and one got a shot off, but he dodged me just in time. The other one stumbled to the ground and I quickly turned the wheel where my tail end slid around again and I slammed on the gas and laughed as I chased one fat fuck and the other shot at us, but missed. Once again, he jumped away at the very last minute. “I don’t think they like the game I’m playing. What do you guys think?” I chuckled.
“Backup is seven minutes out.” Magnus announced. “There’s twelve, so you have more help than you need, just don’t shoot at them when they arrive.”
“Are you ready, Val?” I asked.
“Ready as ever!” She laughed when one of the fuckers slid and landed on his ass before he tried to aim and fire.
“Do not, and I repeat, do not look outside.” I gave my orders to Koty and Belle. Not only did I want to keep anyone from spotting them and taking a shot, I didn’t want Belle to see what was about to happen. The men were taking shots at our tires and Val took one warning shot out the back before she ran up toward the side exit of the motorhome.
“Even if you think we have the situation handled, do not take a foot outside this motorhome.” Val instructed them. “Stay in the bedroom until we tell you it’s safe to open the door.”
The tail end slid again, but I put it in park, and we were jumping out of the motorhome before it even stopped rocking side to side. There were clouds of dust from the gravel my donuts spun up.
“Drop your weapons and put your hands up!” We screamed as we made our way around the motorhome. One was crawling toward his gun when they came into view, and I shot his hand.
“Fuck!” The man screamed.
“I said drop your weapons and put your fucking hands up!” I yelled out.
One guy was on his knees and dropped his while the other rolled around on the gravel crying in pain and he cradled his hand. The man who dropped his gun put his hands up.
“I said put your fucking hands up!” I repeated myself. I could hear motorcycles in the distance. Our backup was within minutes of arriving. The man crying put his one hand up while holding the injured one to his chest as he tried to get on his knees. I gave Val a nod while not taking my gun off the men. She slowly approached with her gun drawn on them and kicked the first gun away then walked to the second one and kicked it away as well.
“You better not fucking move while my partner pats you down.” I warned them.
Val walked behind them, then put her gun in the waist of her pants. She started by checking the first boots and pulled out a knife and threw it away from them. She made him stand and patted him down. She found two more knives and another gun in his waistband. She then pulled some zip ties from her back pocket and tied his wrists behind his back. She then made him lay down on his stomach and hog tied him with the zip ties. She moved on to the other man and did the same thing, but made him scream when she roughly pulled his shot hand behind his back to tie him up as well. She found three knives on him, but not another gun. I put my gun in my waistband and helped her drag the men over behind the building, both screaming from the pain of being pulled over gravel.
I laughed when I saw their patches on their cuts. “Satan’s Children. Seriously? You know, all of you pick the stupidest names. Satan’s Disciples, Satan’s Children. It’s so damn cliché its almost not funny.”
“Fuck you.” One man snarled.
“Who hired you?” I asked.
“Go to hell.” The other man said.
“You can either work with us and we give you quick deaths, or you can wait, and I’ll leave your fate up to the Dark Knights. Up to you.”
“We’re going to die either way, and I’d rather not give you what you want.” One said.
“How did you track us?” I asked as I walked over and grabbed the man’s shot hand and twisted it. He screamed in pain.
“A tracking device, I don’t know where they hid it.” He cried out.
“Where who hid it?” I twisted it a little more.
“I don’t know, it’s on our phones to watch. There’s a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty on the brother and he’s wanted dead or alive. The girl is worth a hundred grand, but she’s not to be harmed.” He answered.
“Do you know who the fuck I am?” I asked as I twisted his hand again.
“The fuck if I know!” The man screamed.
I leaned down. “Mike Axton, VP of Creed’s Lake MC.”
The man gasped and I loved the fear in his eyes.
“That’s right. You’ve fucked with the most badass operatives in the world. You might ask why such an elite operation is helping cult escapees, but that’s because our tentacles run deep and far. I’d like to know, who do you fear most? Me and my partner or the Dark Knights?” I let go of his hand.
“Fuck off.” The other one spit.
I walked over and drew my gun, right before I shot that nasty fat fucker in the ass. He screamed and I laughed. “Death by ass shot. That’s something to be proud of. Now, I have the most important question of all. Who else knows we are traveling in that motorhome?”
“We were driving our bikes, we couldn’t exactly make a phone call or text.” The one with the hand shot said. Val checked their phones and found nothing. They didn’t have any other kind of communication devices on them.
“Do you really think I’m that dumb?” I chuckled.
“Nobody, I fucking told you!”
“Where is the tracking device?” I asked again as I used my foot to roll one to his side. “You have two seconds to answer.” I could hear the motorcycles coming closer.
“On the girl, that’s all I know!” He yelled at me, so I shot him in the dick. “He won’t be awake long and is no longer any use to us. I probably did him a favor since the Dark Knights officially arrived. I kept my gun in hand as the bikes pulled up and turned off their engines. The one in the front looked at the men on the ground then at me.
“I don’t know who the fuck comes up with these codes, but it’s Santa’s nut sack.” He said.
I was relieved to confirm it was in fact our backup.
The men swung their legs around and stood next to their bikes. The man that appeared to be the leader was tall and muscular with a beard and tattoos. He wore the MC cut and seemed about as calm as they came. He leaned against his bike and crossed his arms. “I wondered how long it would be until we crossed paths. I’m Phantom, VP of the Dark Knights, and I already know you’re Axton and Bolton. Our Prez is in debt to you, making that debt ours.” He looked down at the men on the ground. “You guys really fucked up, didn’t you? You know, your MC has been a little out of hand lately. Stepping into our territory and snooping around about our business. Let me ask, did things feel a bit strange when you woke up today? Did you get a bad feeling that it was your last day on earth before you burned in hell?”
One man was sobbing like a child, but the other one was busy bleeding out. I’d give him another minute before his heart stopped beating.
“I think they’ve got it from here, don’t you, Axton?” Bolton asked.
“They’re not doing us any good. They’re not trusted enough by their own MC to be given anything but minor details.” I said.
Phantom nodded to his men, and they stepped away from their bikes. He then looked at me and Bolton. “Take off, we’ve got it from here. Believe me when I say we’re about to do the world a favor. We’ve got more men on their way to escort you through the state.”
I gave him a nod and turned to walk back to the motor home. We stopped and looked when we heard the magic words. “Aim! Fire!”
All the men pointed and shot, and I saw blood splash and brains splatter as twelve shots went off. I tossed the keys to Bolton. “Take over driving, Belle is probably scared, and I want to check her.”
I rushed into the motorhome and made my way to the bedroom and knocked on the door. “Open up, it’s Axton.”
The door opened and suddenly Belle flew into my arms. “Hey, settle down before you hurt yourself.”
She was shaking in my arms. “We heard more motorcycles and gunshots.”
I walked her back toward the bed and made her sit down with me. “It’s over and those men can’t hurt you. The other motorcycles belonged to our allies, and it was their guns you heard.” I looked at Koty as the motorhome began driving. I could hear Magnus on the line with Val. “Grab both of the liquid medications from the fridge.” She would need it if the GPS was an implant. Bolton would have to remove it.
He left and I held Belle a little tighter, and fuck, something was definitely wrong with me because once again my hard cock pressed against my zipper. Jesus, I couldn’t be near her without getting hard.
“Why? I already had medicine tonight.” She asked.
“What you’ve been taking is a children’s dose, but I’ll need you to sleep a little harder for the rest of the night and into the morning. We were just informed there is a tracking device somewhere on or in you. I have a feeling we need to look where you have stitches. I’d like you to sleep if we find it and need to remove it. If that has to be done, I promise it’ll be Bolton to remove it. I’ll be driving because we’ve lost some time, and we need to make it up.” I squeezed her body a little tighter to help her relax a little better. When Koty returned, I asked him to grab the GPS tracker detection device up in the glove box. I bought a few supplies when I went to pick up the motorhome. He gave me a nod and went toward the front. I kissed the side of Belle’s head. “You’re safe, I promise. I’m sorry for all the spinning and jerking around back here. I had to get them into a more vulnerable position so they wouldn’t shoot us.”
“You didn’t kill them? I heard gun shots before the other motorcycles came.” She was still frightened, and we were bouncing around from the country road Val was driving.
“All I did was immobilize them and ask them some important questions. We prefer not to take lives on American soil if it can be avoided. Unfortunately, with those men, they tried to kill us, and we couldn’t let them go. They knew the description of our vehicle and probably our license plate number. Those were very bad men that hurt innocent people on a daily basis. They don’t even deserve your prayers. Come on, let me give you this medication.”
“I don’t really want it, but if you think it’s best, I’ll do it.” She whimpered into my chest. “Will it hurt me?”
“It is definitely for the best, but if we have you medicated, you will sleep and not feel a thing.” I assured her, then let go of her to do the measurements. I had to pull out my phone and look up the adult dosage. Once she was given the drops under her tongue, I laid her back and tucked her in. “Everything will be okay, Belle.” I could tell her eyes were growing heavy, and once she was out, I took the device from Koty.
“There’s a GPS device somewhere on her, but I want to check you too.” I used the device and began scanning her body. When I got to her right hip, it detected something. Then I stood and ran the device over Koty and found nothing.
I walked toward the front. “Let’s switch, the GPS device is in her hip, probably implanted in one of her wounds. Do you think it was Ford?”
“No, he’s a neurologist and wouldn’t have sown her up, that was probably done in the ER.”
“Pull over at the gas station up here, and I’ll let you remove the tracking device. I gave her an adult dosage of her meds. She won’t feel a thing, thank God. Are we headed north?” I asked.
“Yes, hopefully we can throw anyone off that has access to the app for that tracker.” She answered as she pulled into the gas station. I decided to top off the gas to put off making any other stops for a bit longer and do a quick look at the motorhome for any damage. I also made a mental note to call Crock and have the people in charge of her care at that hospital investigated. Jeremy or someone must have known all along that she was there and at the clubhouse, but waited to put out the bounty until we were away from Crock and his group. We needed to stay vigilant, if they knew she and Koty were only with two operatives, they would want to strike before we made it to Creed’s Lake. The MCs probably knew once she was behind those gates, there was nothing they could do and would tell Jeremy he lost and could never get her back. I checked out the motorhome as the gas pump filled up the tank. Not only were those fat fucks dumb as shit, they were bad shots. They didn’t hit the motorhome one time. It was just dusty from the gravel, that’s it.
Once back on the road, Koty was in the bedroom assisting Bolton and I was lost to my thoughts. Once we made it home, I wouldn’t be able to hide from my problems any longer. Since everyone was distracted, I called Kayla.
“Anything new?” I asked.
She sighed. “Creed said you were on a mission that needed your full attention, so I didn’t call. Maxine called mom, and before I knew it, mom took off in my car in the middle of the night. I’m at the airport now, Mom beat the shit out of Linda Sue, and she’s being held in county lockup.”
I rolled my eyes. “Leave it to mom to cause more drama. Thanks for handling it.”
“Mike, I know it’s wrong, but I can’t stop laughing. Mom called the state cops to report a meth lab in their piece of shit house, then stood in the road screaming out accusations of all the dick Linda Sue sucks until she came running out and threw the first punch. When the cops arrived, mom had Linda Sue lying face down on that old road and was pulling on her thong, giving her the world’s worst meth head wedgie known to man. Sheriff called and was cry laughing because the State cops were laughing so hard they couldn’t move. Mom was threatening to burn the house down while the boys tried to run, but they were too damn fat and pretty much rolled down the yard through dog shit and landed at the cops’ feet with meth in their hands. They couldn’t even roll over to get up and try running again because they’re so damn fat. They’ve all been arrested and he’s just holding mom to keep her out of trouble long enough for me to come get her and my car. Imagine being the cops that have to do a search in that house. They’re going to need full hazmat gear.”
“Mom thinks she is helping, but damn if that’s her idea of helping, thank God she was drunk and didn’t give a shit when we were kids. I made a few calls last night, and guess who is about to become the owner of that piece of shit house? Randy agreed to sell it to me, and once that’s done its getting torn down. I’m going to buy up all of their properties and start tearing shit down, so they have nowhere to go. I should have done it years ago instead of walking away. The landlords are more than happy to let go of the property and I’ll just turn it over to some farmers or something. I don’t care if I have to buy the whole damn mountainside one piece at a time. Get this, the property is only worth about two grand because that house is sitting on it.”
“Our old place too?” She asked.
“Yeah, and I’ll burn that fucker down. I’m going after dad’s family too. It’s time to end this shit. We’ve paid enough for their sins.”
I thought about Natalie, and she was in a jar sitting somewhere in that rat infested house. I’d give her a proper send-off, while I would work to end the people that not only put her in that jar, but attempted to destroy me once again. She was the first person that made me feel like I wasn’t born a piece of shit worthless dirt bag, and I wouldn’t let her lay in that house as if she was one.